Fighting Destiny
by cooldeadpool
Summary: A man living a not so normal life suddenly wakes up at a whole new world. New Discoveries awaits as he finds out more about himself and what he truly is. Join him as he finds enemies, discoveries and a little bit of love he doesn't expect he could find. Is he destined to be evil or will he overcome his evil within and fight destiny. Yaoi..
1. Stupid Beginnings

_I don't own any of the characters in Fairy Tail. They belong to Hiro Mashima except of course my OCs. They belong to me mwahahaha. Please be nice. This is my first fanfic ever. This story took place right after the Grand Magic Games, where once again Fairy Tail is the strongest guild in Fiore. Reviews please :D please tell me some things that needs work. I want to learn from my mistakes so don't be afraid to point out mistakes, suggestions, reactions and comments. Thank you :D and uh yeah English is not my first language._

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**Fighting Destiny**

Today was hot and the sun was shining brightly and it was really freaking hot. The heat didn't really bothered Alfred that much but it's starting to. He started to wonder if the Earth is either melting or the sun just hates its inhabitants. Sweat starts rolling down his well toned body while trying to fix a costumers car. As a mechanic, he can't really complain because he needs the job and the fact that the costumer is a woman well… It's been a long time since they had a customer, let alone a woman.

From the woman's view in her seat, she can't help but steal quick glances at Alfred's sweaty body as he works on her car. Knowing the effect that Alfred had on the lady he can't help but smirk wryly at the attention. He does work out a lot when the time permits him so he can't say he's not proud of his body. He shoots a quick glance at her through his aviator shades and notices her eying his tattoos. He examines her looking at his tats as he notices her bouncy blond hair that looks like it's shining from the light in the garage. He can't help but also imagine what's underneath her blue T-shirt and black knee length shorts she's wearing. He wonders if she wears matching underwear. He quickly strays away from the thought. He doesn't want to scare her with his awkward boner in case it did happen.

"You know… I can't remember when I got these tats. They just showed up one morning while I was looking at the mirror and I swear I wasn't drunk the night before that." He stated suddenly as he turned to continue on her car which caused her to jump a little.

"Oh. I ah… *ahem* You sure about that? Because those tats seem a lot for me to even forget. _Even_ if I'm drunk." She said, clearly recovering from her shock at being caught eyeing Alfred.

"Yeah well my lips don't lie, Sweetheart."

"Well it looks good." She smiles.

"Wanna take a closer loo- " He stops as her cell phone starts ringing 'Fireworks' by Katy Perry.

"Sorry.. It'll just take a minute." She smiles.

He sighs inwardly as he returns to finish his work. His ears perk up as he heard her say 'darling' as she was talking to the phone. '_Ooh darling, eh? Hm I really like a challenge.'_ He thought. He eyes her as she turns around with her clothed ass in his view as she talked on her phone. He wasn't listening anymore to her conversation with her 'darling' as he notices a little purple butterfly tattoo showing between her shirt and shorts just above her nice bubbly ass. He smirks as he quickly finishes the job and closes the front clip of the car, clearly having a plan in mind; a mischievous one at that. He turned around just as he heard her sigh.

"Hey sorry again about th-"was all she could say as she turned around and suddenly coming in contact with Alfred's lips against hers.

'_mmm strawberry flavor… ' _Alfred smirked into their kiss or rather… their make out session. He runs his hands over to her waist and gently touches the tattoo he saw not too long ago.

"I like butterflies… It looks good on anything… especially the one near your ass…" He manages to say between their kisses.

"mmm yeah...", was all her reply. She wrapped her legs around Alfred's waist as she let herself get carried over at a table she didn't notice before. Never mind that, she really couldn't help herself as she massages his buzz cut head. It feels kinda cute, she never had a man with a buzz cut before. It feels like her whole body is on fire whenever he moves his lips on hers. It's like she's being hypnotized or something, she can't tell what it is but it's so damn effing good. She remembered seeing his eyes; those beautiful red eyes. It's like she just wants to do 'this' with him now.

Alfred smirked again as he gauges her reaction. '_Gotcha'_, He triumphs inwardly. He always manages to get the ladies with his eyes. He remembered seeing his own eyes in the mirror when he was a kid. He always knew he was different with the other kids. No use stressing it. That's why he always wears sunglasses, even at night. He was always teased as a teenager but not to the point that he was bullied. He was actually popular in his high school years, especially with the ladies. Ladies dig the mysteriousness in a man but they never got to see what's behind this shades unless of course they want to get laid. He knew his parents were scared in his eyes but they never showed it.

Just as about they were continuing their make out session. A door opens somewhere in the garage. He inwardly sighs. '_Damn not now'_

"Ugh… Alfred, get a room. That's my table you're…. mating at.. Honestly, I leave for a few minutes to shit and then I find this." Said the short haired man with same height with Alfred but who is just a bit slimmer.

"Damn it Tom!" Alfred snapped at his Australian friend, clearly annoyed at the interruption.

"Hey I just said get a room… I actually have a job to do you know..", raising both his arms as he neared the two.

The blondie, shocked at being caught yet again, jumped out of the table in a clearly embarrassed state. She couldn't hear the two arguing in the background as her eyes saw red. How dare he make her do this unfaithful shit! She turns to Alfred and slaps him. Hard. Alfred stopped arguing with his friend as his shades flew from heaven knows where in the garage.

"What the hell is wrong with you! Do you f*ckin' like making out with chicks who's with someone else already?!" She screams.

Alfred's turns to her and just smirks about to say something cleverly devastating but stops as he sees her reaction. Her face pales as she sees his eyes. His iris is blood red the white of his eye.. is well not white but BLACK! She steps back and leaves money somewhere over the table not even bothering to count them, opens her car and before she gets in she says "Freak." His friend, Tom opens the garage door and then she's gone.

They were silent for a moment. Tom knew Alfred hates it when people call him freak because of his eyes. He goes over to aviator shades across the garage floor, picks it up and gives it to Alfred who silently takes it and puts it on. Tom watches for a moment, waiting for his friend to shout or just … do something. He's waiting but there's… nothing. He starts to worry that maybe-

Tom's thoughts were interrupted as Alfred calmly states with a small grin "Tom, you surely are Australia's number one idiot."

"Heh! Who's the idiot here?" a smirk slowly forming in his lips. "You two were doing something steamy in a place that can easily be mistaken for a giant oven!" Tom barks a laugh.

"That's why I was letting off some steam. Damn it, Tom I almost got laid there and then you come and ruin everything." He waves a hand toward Tom for effect like he's whole existence is a menace.

"Aw come on. She's just an uptight hoe."

"That doesn't even make any sense. I'm sure she left 'cause of your stupid accent." Alfred smiles clearly forgetting about what happened.

"Hey that's racist! My accent happens to make all them Sheila's wet down under." Tom responds while pointing a finger at his crotch.

"Heh. Yeah from piss." Alfred retorts getting bored with the argument. "Why'd you come back early anyway? Thought you were going to take a while."

"Hey buddy come one, I'll make it up to ya. I know a bar. It's near. It's new. And you my friend, might just get laid tonight", his friend saying suggestively at him and ignoring his question. He thinks about it and why not? They clearly don't have any costumers around and he really needed to drink something cold tonight even if he rarely ever gets drunk. The more he thinks about it the more he realizes that he'll have to carry his friend when they're done drinking. He won't be able to pick up some chicks because from past experience in drinking with him; Tom always gets drunk easily.

Alfred sighs. "Maybe next time."

"Aw come on." Tom pouts.

"Nah. Not in the mood to carry your ass all night to your house." Ending their conversation as he moves to his table and cleans up, readying to leave. He puts his white tank top on and puts his leather jacket over his shoulders. "I'll leave early, try not to destroy the place." He waves as he got out. He heads back to his home. His 'home'… He remembers when he still had a home back in Colorado with his parents. He knew they never really were his parents when he was still a kid. He never asked them and they never told him but they loved him anyways. He wonders if he should've asked even for a little bit of information before they died in a car accident. He remembers what happened that night. He was just fifteen and doing some chores around the house, waiting for his parents to come home. The door bell rang but it was not who he was expecting. He was asked if his home was the Richard's residence and nodded.

Alfred remembers how confused he was, how scared at the two police men telling him that his parents were dead. The cops took him to his parent's body. They said it was a car accident. He wanted to cry back then but he couldn't. He remembers it all, that he never cried even once when he was a kid.

Alfred diminished the memory from his head at the moment as he heads faster to his house. It was still 2 in the afternoon but all he wants to do is to sleep. He was not really sleepy but he'll force himself to sleep. He told himself that he won't get affected by being called a 'Freak'. He's been called worse; he can take this….. but this damn heat just won't let him suck it up. He's sure there'll be some beer left in his fridge. He could just about laze all day watching TV or lie on the bed and do…. Nothing. Or he could just read something. He's just thinking about it and suddenly he's bored.

'_I shouldn't have left… '_ he says inwardly to himself. He would take all customers just to keep his boredom sated but the problem is… There. Weren't. Any. Costumers. And the last customer he got slapped the bejezzus out of him. '_Ugh'_ Now he remembers what happened again.

By the time he stopped himself from over thinking again, he realized that he was in front of his house already. It was a small bachelor pad if you would even consider it that. It was pretty small actually but it was still pretty cozy. His house had a kitchen that's joined with his living room. The walls are all colored white with a brown border line in the bottom and top of the wall and his floor with wood designed plastic tiles. His living room consists of a small sofa that's big enough for two and in at the front of it is a coffee table that's ironically littered with empty beer bottles. And across the sofa is a small tv. A four feet mirror hangs on the wall between the living room and kitchen. Further into the living room is a hall way that leads straight to the bedroom where the walls and floor are the same as the living-kitchen room and in the middle of the hall way is the bathroom with a shower and toilet and the far end.

He checked the small fridge for something to drink. "HA!" he exclaimed as he found a beer that's not empty. As he opens it, he goes to his couch to for something to watch in the TV. He gives himself a quick look in the mirror and winks. He remembers Tom said something about him looking like a video game character. What's his name again? Ah yes John Shepard. He remembered his friend Tom showing him a picture of this character and yeah the similarities are there but not a lot. He finishes checking himself out in the mirror and heads to the sofa. Once he sat down and turned the TV on something caught the attention of his ass.

"What the-", he muttered as he sat on something on his couch. He took the offender of his perfect tv time and realized it was a book. Well actually it was a comic book of some sort.

"Fairy… Tail?" Alfred read the title of the comic book or something. '_The hell? Did the author forget how to spell or something?'_ He thought as he opened the comic book clearly not knowing it was a manga. As he skimmed with the pages which weren't even colored, he spotted something that's color red. Confused he look where it came from as it looked like blood. He realized that it actually was blood and he got a paper cut.

'_Weird… As far as I remember, I haven't gotten any wound let alone a paper cut.'_ He set the blood stained book in the coffee table as he placed his index finger in his mouth to suck on the blood.

The afternoon went about with him watching TV the whole while. It was almost six in the afternoon when he decided to take a power nap on the couch. He'll take care of the book when he wakes up. He's sure Tom's behind this crap. For all he knows, Tom made that book. It was clearly Tom's type of comic, with the girls with big boobs and all. Yeah just a little bit of nap. He doesn't quite understand how he's becoming sleepy but oh well what kind of idiot won't welcome sweet sleep.


	2. New Discoveries

_This is the next chapter. I know he has yet to meet some characters from Fairy Tail but he will meet them soon enough. :D This is gonna be a bit boring but bear with me pleeeease X( XD_

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Alfred was sleeping soundly as he dreams of chirping birds and calming breeze. Maybe Tom decided to pay him a visit and set up some relaxing nature music and forest scented air fresheners or candles. Yeah, nothing like a good old R and R after a hot day.

Alfred was then dreaming of a rather sexy woman crawling up to him in a somewhat forest theme. Her smile is enough to make him cum in his pants right then and there. As she got closer, he closes his eyes and lies back on the tree he was leaning on in his dreams, waiting for her to make a move. He first felt her licking his lips in a slow but fluid motion. The licking started to speed up as he thought how desperate the woman must be. '_heh.. Yeah… show daddy how much you want him…'_ as the licks continued up to his nose. He thought of it funny until she bit his nose or rather something bit his nose.

Alfred opened his eyes waking up from the wonderful dream only to find a strange monkey like creature in front his face.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" He screams as the creature hides from trees. He takes a look around and realizes that it wasn't actually some forest music that he was hearing a while ago but he was actually in one.

'_This has got to be a dream… Yeah this is a dream, I'll wake up soon.'_ He soon panics as he notices he's not 'waking up'. He tried pinching himself but it wasn't working. He stands up and looks around the forest hoping to find someone or something that would get him out of this situation.

After Alfred's slight panic attack he tries to calm down and think of how he ended up in this predicament. He remembers checking himself out in the mirror, sitting on the sofa, watching TV and taking a power nap on his not so big sofa. No. Maybe this is a prank. Yeah, it has got to be. It's got Tom written all over it.

"Hey, Tom! If this is your idea of a prank well then stop it! Just because I didn't go with you in the new bar you were talking about doesn't mean you'll put me in a fucking forest and leave me go happy la la with the freakin' forest animals!" He shouts from nowhere in particular hoping to see Tom come out of the bushes and yell 'You just got Pranked!'. He starts to look if there are any hidden cameras around but he finds none. '_SHIT!'_ He wonders how the fuck he got here.

Alfred starts to hear rustling sounds coming from a bush not too far from his location. Still hopeful that Tom's gonna come out. He takes a step back just in case he really is lost in a stupid forest and that rustling sound is not Tom. As he takes one more careful step, he flinches as he stepped on something. He looked back on what he had stepped on, he saw something that's long and dark red; kind of like a demon's tail. Only to realize that it's connected to his ass.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" He shouts as the creature in the bushes comes out obviously provoked by Alfred's reaction.

He realizes this tail situation would have to wait as he focuses on what's more important; getting the fuck away from the creature, ALIVE. He notices that the creature seems like a bit similar to the monkey-like-thing that bit his nose only that this one looks like a fucking gigantic gorilla.

As he slowly takes a step back careful not to step on his tail again, the creature starts to run towards him with an attempt to attack him. He instinctively leaps away from the creatures attack and jumps to a branch of the tree near him.

"How the hell-" Surprise quickly shows on his face as he absorbs what has happened. Sure it could have been sheer luck to be able to dodge the attack. From past experiences with bar fights and occasional street brawls, he learned to dodge danger when necessary but jumping from the ground and unto a tall tree; now that's just batshit crazy. He was really sure he was awake as he assesses his new found discovery, only for his thoughts to be interrupted by the gorilla monster's roar.

The gorilla monster starts to climb the tree Alfred was standing on and it was quick. He thinks of a way to get out and tries out a plan. Maybe his new found 'powers' could help. No, He was sure they would help as he leapt across the branch of another tree with a smile on his face as he landed successfully. '_What now, motherfucker?' _He smirks at the gorilla monster. The creature, furious, leaps to Alfred's location only for it to be denied satisfaction as its enemy leaps away again.

They kept at it like cats and mouse with Alfred starting to get irritated with the gorilla still chasing him. He starts to leap to trees faster quickly getting used to idea of tree hopping when he finally lands on a weak branch which sends him falling down to the ground. He doesn't understand it but he suddenly got a sense on how to land on the ground successfully and land he did. The gorilla quickly following Alfred to the ground launches at him with speed and killing intent. He flips away from the gorilla's attack and anticipates another attack. He was clearly getting pissed off at the damn beast as he feels heat build up inside him.

Alfred felt like his body, no, his soul was on fire. He watches the creature freeze in his position with a scared look as he look at his hands. It was burning and not just that, the flames were blood red. It was like looking at his blood that's burning. He eyes the creature as it howls at him. He doesn't

understand how could such a creature howl when clearly it looks like a freakin' gorilla. With his new found abilities, he points a fiery hand towards the gorilla. He tries to blast the creature with his crimson flames like the one he sees in movies with superheroes having super powers. He missed.

"Damn." He hisses. With the creature sensing danger oozing from Alfred, it runs back to wherever it has come from; scared shitless.

He leaves a heavy sigh of relief as he thinks about what was happening to him. Maybe it has a connection with his eyes. '_First the eyes, then the tattoos, then waking up in this stupid forest, then a tail, then I learned how to jump like The Hulk, now fire powers? Jeez. What next?'_ He assesses himself and notices everything seems intact, including his stupid tail and walks hoping to find something other than trees and bushes.

Luck seems to have been on his side as few more minutes he found a road. It was not made of cement but at least a road's a road. Better not look at a gift horse at its mouth as they say. As he follows the trail, he realizes that he was walking for a few hours but he was not even hungry or tired.

'_Maybe I 'am' superhuman..'_ he thought to himself as he walked. A few more minutes and he see a town in the horizon not far away. He starts to wonder if maybe he was transported here because clearly it's possible. After all, he had freakin' powers and crap like that. Who's to say that being transported in a different dimension is not part of the shit that's been happening to him?

'_I'm over thinking things… maybe I should just have fun with this and go with the flow. Maybe I'll find out more about me in this place.'_ He thought to himself clearly speeding up to get to the town.

It was sort of noon when he got to the town. He knows because the sun is starting to bug him. Good thing he was wearing his shades all this time. '_Maybe this is also part of my powers, judging from my demonic looking tail I'd say that maybe my powers are dark or something.'_ Now that he thought about it, maybe that's why he was always feeling irritated during noon time back in Australia was because of the sun. Damn. Now he's over thinking things again.

'_So this is Clover Town, huh?'_ He wanders around a bit, examining the place. Yeah he really is transported to another dimension, everything seems normal but it's not the same back home. He notices how people don't seem to look at him sporting a demon tail in his ass. '_hm, I guess they've seen weirder_ _shit than my tail.' _

As he wandered a bit, he placed a mental map on where he went and what landmarks he passed by. He then saw a 'Help Wanted' sign at a nearby diner. It's seems there are similar qualities here from his own world back home. People seem to dress like modern earth inhabitants from his perspective. He entered the restaurant and proceeded to the counter. A middle aged woman smiled at him as he neared her.

"What can I get for you, sir?"

"Oh I'm here for the job. I saw the ad outside the window. I kinda need one actually."

"Oh that's perfect! We were in need of another waiter. Why don't you come in here at the back so you change and get you started? The name's Golden by the way." She smiled at him enthusiastically.

"Uh.. Al-… Alardo." He didn't know why but he wanted a nickname for his full name. He thought the name Alfred Richards sounded too plain. If he's gonna have a little fun in this world, why not play along? '_Yeah.. That sounds rad. Heh if Tom were to hear me now I'll never hear the end of his teasing.'_ He had thought of that name when he was still a teenager. Friends thought it was weird so he never went with it. Until now.

He followed her and changed into his uniform in a bathroom and proceeded to service the customers. It wasn't that bad as he thought. He never tried waiting in a diner back at home. Golden even said that all employees get paid after work which is unlike back home, albeit little at least there was pay. He learned that money here is called 'jewels'. The pay was enough for him to stay at an inn for a day and still have some jewels left.

Alfred or rather Alardo went to his room in the inn. There was a small bed at the center of the room and a bathroom at the side. There's a five feet long mirror at the other side of the room. As he took his shirt off to get ready for bed, he gave a final look at himself in the mirror and noticed something different in his body.

'_What the-?'_ He thought as he examined the new additions to his tattoos. He didn't notice it before. He didn't even know when this new tattoos started showing. He looked at the symbol at his chest and somehow he can understand it which frightened him a bit. '_Infernal'_ He thought as he looked at the symbol in his chest. He also noticed the symbols on his right and left shoulder, as well as on the back of his right and left hand. He read them as Darkness, Arcane, Blood, and Summon respectively.

He frowned at this and just decided it would just be best to sleep this through. He has had a rough day after all, no use over thinking it. He was a little surprised at how well he was taking all this.

Alardo went to work the next day at the restaurant eager to gather information and to earn a little quick buck. He learned something about these so called "Guilds". Apparently these 'guilds' are like the main game in this world. He also learned that these guilds have wizards. At first he was skeptical because the only wizard he knew was Harry Potter but given the things that are happening to him, he's inclined to believe this shit. Also this 'Wizards' can use actual magic, maybe he can get more information about these 'guilds'.

Alardo was about done with only a few costumers left to wait when he overheard some customers talking about some grand magic games and guilds. He was about to overlook this when he heard a particular word. 'Fairy Tail'. Yeah, that's what he heard so he got a little closer to the conversation. From what he had heard this 'Fairy Tail' is a powerful guild. He asked the customers where he can find Fairy Tail and got the answer he was looking for.

When he got back at the inn, he brought out a map of Fiore. Apparently the inn gives out free maps to their customers so he took this as the perfect opportunity to try to learn about the geographical locations in this world. According to the customers, Fairy Tail can be found at the City of Magnolia which is just a train away from here.

Alardo grinned to himself as he counted his money for check out tomorrow. He smiled when he found there was still enough for a train ride through Magnolia. Good thing it's cheap. He readies himself for sleep, because he knows tomorrows another big day.


	3. We meet for the first time

_Heeey this is the third chapter. Reviews, comments, suggestions and reactions are very much appreciated. Please enjoy. Or atleast try to . :D_

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It was in the crack of dawn when Alardo finally woke up. He was convinced that paying a visit to this so called "Fairy Tail" might give him some answers; maybe even joining them since he's got nowhere else to go on from this point. Why not? He's got the magic. '_And they're pretty damn strong too._' He still considered to just continuing working in Golden's restaurant but he knows he won't be able to go any further in his search. He's heard these guilds go on quests and get paid with tons of jewels, plus he doesn't even know how long he'll stay in this world. He could also use the money to rent an apartment or to even buy a small house if he's going to stay a while. He doesn't even know if this "Fairy Tail" could help him. '_It's worth the shot… at least I got something I could go on from there.' _The only thing he knows is that this situation he is in now has got something to do with this Fairy Tail, that and the comic book he sat his ass on way back in his world that was bearing the same name as this guild can't just be some mere coincidence.

Alardo stands up and readies himself for the day. He heads into the small bathroom taking a quick glance at the mirror. He usually sleeps with only his boxers and the only time he sleeps in the nude is when he gets laid at night. He notices that he's sporting a 2 day five o'clock shadow and deciding he needs to shave but a frown soon takes over his face as he remembers he didn't brought his razor when he was transported into this world. Damn. It couldn't hurt to 'accidentally' transport a razor too now, wouldn't it? He also wonders how come his pants didn't have a hole in the back part considering he grew a tail. _'Maybe it's part of this magic stuff.' _He thought but decides to continue on to the bathroom without shaving; well he still looks handsome. He's sure the ladies will dig the unshaven and rugged look. After a quick shower, he dresses up and puts on his shades. Finally deciding he's ready, he heads downstairs.

After Alardo checked out at the inn, he went to Golden's diner to return his uniform. He informed her that he will not continue to work at the diner anymore which saddens her though she understood. After getting outside of the diner, he heads out for the towns train station. The train station was at the other side of the town. He decides to go to the central part of the town were merchants and vendors do their days work.

As he heads to the central part of the town, he notices people running past him in the opposite direction of where he was going. '_What the heck?' _He thought quickly sensing trouble; he starts running towards the town's center.

By the time he got there, broken pieces of crates, fruits, vegetables and other merchandise are scattered all over the ground. There were people still running away from the assailants but some others were staying in their stalls and defending their possessions and merchandise. He noticed that the assailants were the gorilla like creatures that attacked him a few days ago. This time it wasn't alone. He could almost count seven but he wasn't sure how many there were or if some are hidden from his view. He then saw a couple being chased by one of the creature but the lady tripped and fell to the ground hard. With the creature readying to attack, Alardo quickly sprints towards the couple.

"Not so fast, King fucking Kong!" He shouts as he delivers an elbow strike straight in the abdominal part of the gorilla while it was preparing to slam both its fists to the defenseless woman. After disrupting the creatures attempt to attack, he delivers a strong punch right in the stomach which sent the gorilla flying to a wall from the building on the other side of the plaza. He thought for a second on how he did that. He didn't know he had super strength. But it just felt natural when he did that. He severed his thought train and turned to the woman.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Alardo asks as he sends a cheeky smile to the woman which made her blush oblivious to her boyfriend's ministrations about her well being.

"Y-yeah.", was all her reply as she smiles at Alardo. With the man noticing his girlfriend's reaction, he quickly yanked her up and ran away from the commotion, and looking back at him with a leer.

"Jeez you're welcome. It's not like I'm fuckin' her or anything." He muttered to himself as he readied for battle. '_I knew then unshaven look could score, I didn't even use my eyes'_ He thought with a smirk as if somebody was questioning him.

Alardo's actions caught the attention of the other gorillas and stopped whatever they are doing to look at him. It's like suddenly all the noise in the area was sucked in a vacuum and nothing was left. The creatures watched Alardo silently while the civilians took this momentary 'cease fire' as a chance to get away.

The creatures slowly moved towards Alardo, three others dispersing as if they were surrounding a prey. Alardo was only standing there waiting for an attack when suddenly he sensed two gorillas lunged towards his position. He then took his fighting stance while he anticipated which of the two will attack first. When they got to a close enough range, Alardo dodged the first attacker's swing and instead of attacking it, he lunged at the second ape. This completely caught the gorilla off guard as Alardo took this as a chance to land a clean punch at its ugly face which sent it hurtling towards some nearby crates.

'_Don't think I forgot about you, ugly'_ He smirked as he caught the fist coming towards him with his tail. He used it to pull the gorilla towards him and gave it a powerful kick in the chest, knocking the breath out of it. He let his tail go once the creature slumped down, out cold.

'_Alright, four more to go'_ He thought with a smirk waiting for the creatures to attack. Then as he was waiting for something, he saw movement in his peripheral vision quickly realizing it's not one of the apes.

"Wait! Don't kill them!" shouted the middle-aged woman at Alardo.

This caused one of the creatures to go for the crates and throw one at the woman. Time seemed to slow down for Alardo as he saw the crate hurtling towards the panic stricken woman. He sprinted as fast as he could, which shocked him because everything seemed to be in slow motion as he ran towards the woman and then returned to normal the moment he neared her position. He instinctively reached into the air at his side as if he was grabbing something. Suddenly, a sword materialized in his hand, a flaming samurai sword to be exact. He then slashed the incoming crate in half with it going past them in a 'Y' shaped direction.

"You okay, ma'am?" He asked the woman behind him.

"Um yes, Thank you." She said regaining her composure. "Please, don't kill them. They're one of the rare species related to Vulcans and Gorians." She pleaded to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'll try but no promises." He said as he readied another stance, this time holding a sword. He sensed the woman was not convinced with his answer.

"I just don't understand, they're not normally this aggressive. They are territorial, yes but this is not their usual behaviors. Something is quite wrong. Just please don't kill them."

"Look. I'll try to hold back, alright" He said reassuringly as he then willed his sword to disappear in the air as flames engulfed it. He then assumes a fighting stance with his fists raised in front of him which he mostly uses when he got into street fights back home.

"Go find a safe place for a while, ma'am. I'll take care of things here." He suggested

"Alright" She said as quickly ran away to a safe place.

"Alright you ugly freaks, show daddy what you can do." He said, smiling smugly at the creatures.

* * *

Today was probably one the worst days Laxus could have. He didn't really had that many worst days on his list but to him, being one on a boring, easy ass quest was one of them. Of course he wouldn't voice this out as the mission particularly belonged to a certain blue-haired little dragon slayer girl but he still can't help it. It's not his fault; well technically it was both him and the iron dragon slayer's fault that he was on this stupid mission.

Things got a little out of hand back there at the guild yesterday. He was just drinking his beer after recovering from a battle with some fucking dragons bent on taking over the world a few days ago. He might recover quickly but his senses are still a little dampened so he never really sensed some 'body' hurtling straight toward his direction until it was too late. The body was actually Natsu's with Gajeel using his steel arm rod to attack him and accidentally sending it to Laxus direction. These immature actions didn't normally pissed the lightning dragon slayer but it's a different story when was taking his beer.

Laxus even got more pissed off when Gajeel incredulously asked why he didn't dodge it. After all he was an _S class mage_ he said, which pissed Laxus even more. Naturally, any mature person would let this go but not him when they ruined his beer and his evening, like any sane person, he snapped. He swears, something in his head snapped like a twig and he lunged at the iron dragon slayer and punched him at the kisser, hurtling Gajeel at the other side of the guild.

Of course, the idiot dragon slayer wouldn't let this go. As everybody stared silently and equally shocked, and the Raijinshuu calming him down, Gajeel quickly launched a steel rod at Laxus which sends the other one flying to the other side. Laxus was really pissed back then as they started spitting out each other names. _Traitor. Loser. _Then another fight started with them breaking a few tables and walls.

The master stopped their fight and as punishment; they were to accompany Wendy on her mission. This of course shocked the little dragon slayer as she was originally teamed to go with Erza and Lucy but knowing that the masters decision was final, she never said a word.

Laxus felt a little bad at the little dragon slayer. He knows she was trying hard to stay confident with her two intimidating teammates so he tried to be as nice as possible which didn't help considering his size. He just oozes intimidation and he can't help it. He knows she worked with Gajeel back in previous quests but not with him so he's tried to smile when she talked to him. He knows some people think he doesn't care but he does damn it and the stories of his rebellion a few years back didn't help either. He supposed he should just suck it up; they were near their destination after all.

Now they were walking away from the train station and headed for their client somewhere around the town of Clover. Wendy was feeling a bit anxious with this mission. She knows they were being nice to her but she can't stop it. Carla, her exceed told her it's going to be alright.

"So Wendy, where's the chump we're looking for?" Gajeel asked tactlessly which served Carla to glare at him.

"The _chump_ we're looking for is the mayor of this town." Laxus said without looking at him. "If you want to be an _S class _wizard, better pay attention to mission briefings." He added condescendingly.

"I know _who_ we're looking for! And who asked you?!" Gajeel shouted. "I was talking to Wendy!" he added pointing a finger at Wendy while looking angrily at Laxus who then moved near the iron dragon slayer attempting to punch the lights out of him.

"u-um… Can we pl-" Wendy tried to say when Carla quickly went in the middle of the two.

"Stop this childishness! You two are already considered adults and it is common knowledge that you two should act like one. Wendy is desperately trying her best not to cry every time you two spat at each other during the mission." Carla said while pointing a finger at the teary eyed girl. The two looked at each other then at Wendy.

"Sorry Wendy, just two adults acting like kids." Laxus said to the girl.

"Yeah, we're sorry, come on let's find this chu-…. Mayor." He finished when he earned a glare from Carla.

"Okay." Wendy smiled wiping the tears in her eyes. "I- I think the Mayor is in-", she stopped speaking abruptly causing her companions to look at her.

"Something wrong, Wendy?" Laxus asked as they waited for an answer from Wendy, who by then had closed her eyes. He knew she was sensing something so he looked around for something suspicious when she suddenly opened her eyes.

"Um.. I feel some disturbance… somewhere around that direction …" She said as she pointed at some direction then looking at the two.

"Okay kid. Lead the way." Gajeel said to Wendy, who smiled in return. Then as quickly as possible, they let the girl take the lead as they ran through the town. Laxus has got to admit, the kid's pretty quick. Almost not as bad as dragon slayer of Natsu's age. They got closer to the central part of the town, with a few shortcuts and turns and he could already hear commotion from the area.

* * *

Alardo waited for them to attack. It seems these ugly freaks are smarter than he thought. The ape like

Creatures started grunting to each other as if they were communicating and then they started to group together. He knew they were planning on attacking all at the same time. He can read their body movement. It was then when two of the creatures started pounding at their chest like King Kong would. Then after the "war song" they charged all at the same time. That is when he felt something amiss in the air and then he felt it. He looked at his right in the alley way and he saw three people and a… flying cat?

"Sky Dragon's Roar!" He heard the little girl shout and as quickly as she said it a horizontal funnel of wind came from her mouth and straight to the ape like creatures, interrupting their attack.

Alardo took this as a chance to attack the gorillas while they were still in a blindsided state. With lightning quick speed, he attacked the nearest one from his range with a crimson flamed punch in the gut. Not strong enough to kill it but enough to do a bit of damage and to send it flying across the place. He was about to attack the remaining three when he felt a tingle in the air. The blond man was suddenly near him and attacked one of the gorillas with a punch in the face and an electricity filled kick in the chest and sent it hurtling to a wall.

"You're quick." Laxus said, smirking at Alardo.

"You're not too shabby yourself." Alardo replied returning the smirk.

Then the two mage faced the remaining gorillas when another one of the blond man's teammates attacked one gorilla in the face with an extending metal rod, then giving it another whack in the head to knock it out to the ground. Alardo looked at the man and noticed the metal rod was actually his arm which was now turning back to normal. He didn't see the girl earlier when suddenly she was in front of him.

"I-I'm sorry for intruding.." she gave him a smile and then exclaimed "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" as she slashed at the last remaining gorilla with her hands covered in shining air, knocking the creature away.

With the battle finally coming to an end, Alardo studied the three mages as they got together with a white flying cat. '_So these are wizards'_ He thought as he studied them. The blue haired little girl, who could actually pack quite a punch or rather a 'scratch', was wearing a blue school girl outfit complete with a small black coat, black stockings and pigtails. Next to her was the one with the arm that becomes a metal rod of some kind. This guy has a bad boy and punk rocker kind of look especially the pierced face and an all black outfit. The next one was the blond man who was wearing a long-sleeved violet polo with black jeans. Alardo doesn't know if this guy's going to work or to a party. His thoughts were disrupted when the woman he was protecting a while ago came out of hiding.

"Oh no oh no oh no! Did you people kill them?!" She screamed hysterically while running her hands over her head as if it was the end of the world.

"They're not dead just… unconcious. Don't worry I can tell." He said as he looked at the slumped bodies of the animals. He doesn't know how but somehow he could see some small part in their bodies when he focuses his eyes. Kind of like Superman's X-ray vision except what Alardo sees are small orbs in the middle of their chests that he thinks are their soul. He doesn't even know what a soul looks like but looking at those orbs, somewhere in the back of his head says that those small glowing things in the chests of those creatures are souls.

Laxus raised an eyebrow at Alardo and was about to question him when the woman, looking at the ape like creatures, released a relieved sigh, quickly turning to them.

"I'll get the animal control later. Oh where are my manners? You people must be the wizards from Fairy Tail. My husband is the one who made the request. I am his wife and I am also an animal researcher. My name is Amelia Fortune." She said with a smile.

"My team and I have been studying these creatures. They're called Gollaians. These are rare species related to the Vulcans and Gorians. They're much bigger than the other two species but they are much more peaceful." She said thoughtfully. "That is what confuses me. We have been studying their behavior for quite a few years now, and they have never shown any form of aggression." She added.

"Maybe it's mating season?" Gajeel added.

"No, mating season has already past. They _are_ territorial but only during mating season, and they usually live deep in the forest which doesn't quite explain their presence here in the town. Somehow we have established that maybe this is magic related. This has been going on for two weeks and we thought we could handle it until they started attacking the town." Amelia said looking at each of them.

"So that's why you sought for them. Fairy Tail, right?" Alardo said looking at the three wizards.

"Are you not a part of them?" Amelia asked confused.

"No he isn't. Why are you here exactly?" Laxus said abruptly, looking at Alardo expectantly. He can't help but feel suspicious of this guy. There something strange about him that Laxus can't tell.

"Before you accuse me of something, alright? Let me just tell you that I just came here a few days ago. I don't mean in this town but in this world." Alardo said raising his hands in the air. "And I was just passing by when these uglies attacked some people randomly."He said, pointing a finger at one of the Gollaians. Laxus seemed to let it go but he's not thoroughly convinced yet.

"What do you mean _in this world_? You mean you're from another dimension?" Gajeel said turning to Alardo.

"Like Edolas?" Wendy piped in.

"I can't say I've heard of that place.. but yeah I'm from another dimension, I think." Alardo said scratching his head, clearly not sure of his answer.

"_You think?_ You're being vague here" Laxus said blankly, as he stared at Alardo.

"Hey I just woke up in a forest a few days ago. Chased by that thing and then worked at a diner and now here I am." Alardo said as he pointed at his feet for an added effect. "Oh and have I mentioned I grew a tail a few days ago?" He added stretching his tail in the air for them to see.

"Alright alright… I'm not accusing you of something just…. being careful." Laxus said shrugging still giving Alardo a skeptical glance.

"Seems like people coming from other dimensions are pretty normal here." Alardo said.

"More or less… yeah." Laxus said with a shrug.

"Figures." Alardo added.

"I'm sorry for interrupting but I must go see my husband. You are free to investigate the area but I suspect the forest might be a good idea. I fear magic is what causing this, if not… I don't know what then." She said as she waved goodbye. They gave their nods and Amelia left them to themselves.

"You guys are Fairy tail, right? Mind if I tag along? I won't be in the way." Alardo said to the group trying to sound not too eager. He can't believe his luck. This has got to be a sign. The blond one seems he's about to object when the cat talked. Really talked. The fact that the cat has wings and was flying was out of him. He just knows that animals aren't supposed to talk.

"You seem capable enough and it goes with the saying _The more, the merrier_ but I believe Wendy has the say in this." Carla said, looking at Wendy expectantly. Laxus wants to object but he said to himself a while ago that he will let Wendy do this mission. He's just here to follow her. He's hoping Wendy declines the punk with shades' request but he'll respect whatever her decision is.

"Umm Y-you can fight and.. We could use the help…. N-not that we need help.. it's just.. Y-yes I think you can come." Wendy finally said as she looked expectantly at Laxus and Gajeel.

"Hey. The more we are the faster we finish this, right?" Gajeel said, shrugging not really caring. "And you look strong. Hey I might even challenge you for fight after this mission." He added while Laxus only sighed and nodded. Gajeel has a point as Laxus thought '_and the faster this is done the sooner I get home'_, and this way he might be able to keep an eye with the new guy.

"Heh. Good luck with that. The loser will buy beer for the winner. Name's Alardo by the way." He said.

"Ha. I like this one. He's got guts. Not like the pink one, he's got it but he's an idiot. I swear his idiocy spreads like a disease." Gajeel added with a smirk. Alardo was about to ask him about who the pink guy is when Carla interrupted their talk.

"I'm Carla, this is Wendy, that man is Laxus and the one over there is Gajeel." Carla said curtly, pointing at each person as she said their names. "Now we need to hurry, the more time we waste the more clues could be disappearing." She added seriously. Moving away as the group headed for the gate of the town that leads to the forests.

Alardo smiled to himself as he thought things were going incredibly smooth. He'll just ask if he could join their guild after their quest. He's gonna need to see what these guilds do anyway. Why not start right away?


	4. Bets and Secrets

_Heeeey here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it :D reviews, suggestions, and reactions are welcome. Just not violent ones, okay? I'm still a novice here. Anyway enjoy :D_

* * *

It was almost noon when the group took a break at a nearby river deep in the forest. Still a bit confused about today's new found abilities, Alardo decided now's not the time to think about it and he couldn't afford any distractions from his head. Distractions are dangerous.

"Jeez. How boring could this get?!" Gajeel shouted as he sat on a rock. "Shouldn't we be beating the crap out of monkeys right now?"

"They're called Gollians." Carla huffed, giving Gajeel a glare but eventually releasing a sigh. "But he's got a point. We may have to split up to gain more coverage area."

"Won't that be a bit risky, Carla?" Wendy said.

Laxus let out a small laugh, "You forgot. You're traveling with _us,_" crossing his arms with a smirk.

"Besides I've brought something for us incase this happens." Carla pulled a small pouch from her puny body bag. "These are Lacrima-comms, you place these in your ear and use it to communicate in long distances," she demonstrated as she placed a coin shaped crystal in her ear. "Lucy bought this to test it out for this mission. But seeing as she won't be here she gave this to me instead. Though a drawback for these Lacrimas, she said is that you can only communicate to one person at a time."

Carla then gave each of them one of their own with still enough spare in case they lost theirs. "These crystals are connected with each other so it can also act as a honing device in case we got lost and we need to regroup."

"Wow Carla!" Wendy smiled. "You really thought of everything!"

"Well.. You can't be too careful.." Carla silently nodded. "Anyway, we have to group ourselves. I'll be with Wendy and whoever she chooses but I'll also be aerial reconnaissance. Any volunteers?" she said as she waited for an answer.

"I'll go with the little kid." Gajeel grinned as he showed a thumb up. "Just like old times, eh?" he said, earning a smile from Wendy.

"I'll stick with the new guy." Laxus said with his arms crossed.

"Hey just… _Don't get in my way_." Alardo smirked at Laxus.

Laxus snorted, "You wish. And that's my line."

"Alright, hopefully this should only take an hour." Carla said as she readied her wings. "Stay within reach. I'll just do a quick recon and then head back to Wendy's location." She flew a few feet then said while looking at the sky for directions, "You two head northwest, the three of us will be going northeast."

"Be careful Carla. Come back quickly." Wendy said with worry.

"You take care too." Carla smiled and flew away.

"We'll be going too." Wendy nods, "Good luck." She said and walked away with Gajeel.

With the two left alone, they walked to the direction that Carla pointed. Alardo can't help but feel … weird at the forest. Now that it was just the two of them, it's noticeably quiet for a forest.

"Isn't it weird?" Alardo said as they continued to walk. "The forest is just…. Too quiet. There aren't even any birds around..", Casually looking up to check if there really is none, "And there's this strange… I don't know.. energy?"

"It's the magic… there's something in the forest alright." Laxus added but soon stopped dead in his tracks and looked seriously at Alardo, "Why'd you come with us?"

'_Here we go again'_, Alardo sighed. "Look, alright. If you think I've got something to do with this … magic stuff, I don't, okay? So back off." he said as he returned Laxus serious stare.

Laxus grinned, "Why so defensive then?" crossing his arms in front of Alardo. '_This guy's hiding something.'_

Alardo sighed again, wracking his brain to think of something that might lay him off of Laxus' _suspicious guys_ list. Honestly, this guys really getting on his nerves. "Would it help if I said I wanted to join your guild?" He said sincerely.

"Depends…. What made you want to join? Thought you said you just came here in this world a few days ago." Laxus looked at Alardo.

"Heard your guild was the number one." Alardo shrugged and said as a matter of fact.

Laxus snorted, "That can't be the only reason."

"Think what you want. Alright?" Alardo said as he walked past him. "Don't you want to get this quest done?" stopping as he turned his head to Laxus. Laxus only stared at Alardo and continued their search.

"Yeah. I almost forgot… What's with the tail?" Laxus grinned looking at Alardo's tail.

"_Now_ you ask." Alardo huffed.

* * *

Carla was starting to regret being recon but she knows no one else can do the job. If it weren't for the heat she would've done this much quicker. And Happy, yes if he were here, she could have just been with Wendy while the male cat was doing the recon, not her.

She squinted and put a paw over her forehead to block some sunlight from her eyes. She scanned the area for a while and found no movement, which is weird. Now that she thought of it, there should have been small movement of animals down below. She didn't realize that she hasn't seen any birds flying up until now.

Something is definitely going on.

Then just as she was scanning the area something caught her eye. Off in the distance, light seems to be bending like it was some sort of glass.

'_Of course!',_ Carla thought raising a finger from her paw.

It's a barrier and it was near Laxus's location. And just as she was about to contact Laxus, something more caught her attention. There seems to be movement near Laxus' and Wendy's location and it's headed straight to their direction. She needs to warn them. Fast.

Carla placed her paw in near her ear, "Laxus! Can you hear me?" as she tried to connect with Laxus' earpiece.

"**Yeah? Something wrong?"**, the deep voice of Laxus said.

"There's something that's headed in your direction. I think it's the Gollians or if not… the enemy. I'll warn Wendy next and go with them."

"**Got it."**

"Wait, there also seems to be a barrier near your location. I think that's where the magic surrounding us is coming from. Just head north of your location." She added as she flew straight to Wendy's location.

"**Copy that."**

* * *

Wendy was feeling a bit bad for Gajeel who was grumbling to himself as they walked. She knows it's not her fault he's stuck on this quest but her caring nature couldn't help it. "G-Gajeel-san, I'm sorry if you're stuc-"

"Hey. None of that sappy sorry stuff again, okay?" Gajeel interrupted. "It's not your fault anyways, kid. 'sides I'm just upset cuz there are still no monkeys to beat up."

Wendy let out a small smile, "Carla will be mad again at you for calling the Gollians _monkeys." _In which Gajeel only _tsks_ in response. "Oh I almost forgot. Since this mission requires us to go in a forest, Levy-san gave me something for you." She said as she started pulling a small pouch like Carla's from her pocket.

"S-she did? Levy? For … for me?" Gajeel sputtered, blushing as Wendy handed him the small pouch. He opened the small pouch and looked at what it contained. He took out the contents in his hand and he could have sworn he's face looks like a tomato now when he realized that the contents were small pieces of metal, that says 'Iron' with a heart replacing the letter 'O' and a piece of paper with his name and something written on the back.

Gajeel ignored Wendy's giggling as he read what's written at the paper. {_Gajeel, these are iron based letters I made for you. They maybe small but they can still restore you to full strength like the big one I gave you in Tenroujima. I specifically made them that way for easy carriage. Be safe and take care of Wendy. Good luck with the mission. Levy}_

Gajeel folded the paper and put it in his pocket as well as the pouch of irons. He can still feel the heat creeping up his neck, making him blush. "Darn it. I swear she's only doing this to embarrass me."

Wendy kept smiling "But it is still nice though, right?"

"Y-yeah." Gajeel said looking away. "Damn that woman.." He muttered silently to himself with another blush creeping in.

"**Wendy! Can you hear me?"** Wendy suddenly heard a familiar voice and looks around but finally realized that it was coming from her Lacrima-comm.

"Carla? What's wrong?" She said sensing worry in Carla's voice.

"**There's movement headed your way. Be ready, I'm almost there too."**

"Alright, thank you Carla." Wendy said ending the conversation.

Gajeel looked at Wendy, "What did she say, kid?"

Wendy looked forward "She said there's movement ahead.", she checked her pigtails and her clothes before giving Gajeel a determined smile. "I think I can sense them in the air now. And they're many."

Gajeel let out an excited laugh and smirked, "Gihehe.. Finally, some action." He said as both of them readied for combat.

* * *

"Seems like we're gonna be expecting some company." Laxus said as they walked. "Let's head north from here, the cat said there's a barrier there of some kind." He pointed, walking through that direction. Alardo merely grunted and followed Laxus.

"You've gone quiet." Laxus stated without looking at him. He can tell Alardo is a little bit pissed. Laxus smirked as he thought of how quickly he could get the rise out of Alardo. Laxus actually believes Alardo's sincerity about joining the guild. He's just being careful. Alardo's pretty strong and that says a lot coming from Laxus. But that won't stop him having a little bit fun at _making _fun of Alardo for a little while.

What he doesn't believe is Alardo's reason. Laxus knows he's hiding something and that just makes him want to know it more.

Realizing Alardo's not going to grace him with a response, "Fine, be that way." He says as he continued onwards.

Alardo's really trying not to cut the blond bastard to ribbons. He knows that he's got a bit of a temper but this jerk just loves pissing him off. He can tell that Laxus is smirking, oh he knows and he really wants to wipe that smirk off with a rock or maybe his flaming sword could do the trick. What's the deal with this guy anyway? The bastard keeps accusing him of something that he doesn't even have any clue with.

But then his thoughts were disrupted when he heard the ground rumbling like a giant's footstep.

The two readied themselves as they waited for the enemy to show themselves. Judging by the sudden rise of magical energy suddenly emanating ahead, it's clear to them that a mage is their _company_.

They were waiting for the enemy when everything went silent. They knew the enemy stopped but then suddenly a giant Gollian that's nearly 20 feet charged from their left. They leapt out of the way as the big ugly creature stopped from its charging and turned to look at them.

They waited for another charge when suddenly a woman dropped down from the trees and landed on top of the Gollian. She had a long black ponytailed hair and was wearing a short pink kimono like that of a female ninja.

The woman smiled down upon them and raised her hands upfront and then the giant Gollian started charging again. Somehow she was controlling the animal.

Laxus looked at Alardo and gave him a smirk and a nod. As if reading his mind Alardo returned the grin and nod then they went into action. Laxus let out a bright lighting attack to dazzle the woman for a moment and just as he was expecting the creature stopped as the woman rubbed her eyes. Because of the light, it showed a little bit of the nearly invisible threads that were attached to the beast. Then as fast as possible, Alardo summoned his flaming sword and leapt towards the woman.

Alardo slashed his sword and let out a wave of crimson flames but somehow the woman sensed he's attack and jumped away from him whilst still being disoriented. But the wave of flame went towards her previous position and the attack cut the nearly invisible strings attached to the Gollian, waking it up from its trance and then running away from the battle. '_Peaceful creatures indeed….. but still ugly_.'

"Nice." Laxus gave him a grin.

The woman now regaining her vision, stomped angrily to the ground, "You'll pay for that!" She then extended her arms and flexed her fingers and suddenly it was raining Gollians. Though not as big as the first one, they were still a lot of the ugly freaks. The Gollians dropped down and surrounded the two wizards.

"What now?" She laughed haughtily. "Hmm… such a waste to destroy you two..hmm such handsome men.", she said smiling.

With the two surrounded, Laxus looked at Alardo with a grin, "Hey, Alardo… Wanna make a bet?"

"What do you have in mind?" Alardo looked back curious about this _bet_.

"Well if I win… you spill all your secrets and if you win; you join Fairy Tail, sound good?" Laxus looked at him with a playful grin.

"Well isn't that a little bit unfair." Alardo said with a smile. "But if that's what you want then fine by me. It's not like I'll lose to you."

"You two certainly don't know the danger you are in, don't you?" The woman looked at them, clearly insulted that she was being taken lightly.

Laxus ignored her and continued discussing his bet with Alardo. "The first one to knock her out wins." Laxus said to Alardo.

Alardo snickered, "Heh, I generally don't hit women but if that's what it takes to win…."

"Enough with this tomfoolery! Attack them!" The woman shouted raising her hands to the Gollians.

The Gollians then started to attack and got closer to the two. Alardo grinned as he placed his palm to the ground and created a ring of crimson embers around the apes just as they started to attack. This of course burned the strings attached to the animals, quickly setting them free in one single attack.

As fast as the attack went, Laxus was suddenly near the woman about to perform a lightning based punch but the woman back flipped and dodged the attack. She then used her strings as she attached them into the trees to pull herself away from danger.

Alardo then let out crimson flames from his hand and fired at the escaping woman. However it missed when she used her other hand to attach a different set of strings unto another tree and pulled herself away from the attack like Spiderman would. Then she leapt from branch to branch trying a hasty retreat from the two.

"Damn." Alardo muttered.

"Not to worry." Laxus said with a knowing smirk. And suddenly a bolt of lightning struck down to the tree that the woman was about to jump on. She dodged it but it almost got her and this caused her to slip and fall. The two caught up with the woman who was now standing and was clearly pissed off.

"You men want to play games? Alright." She smiled maniacally as she raised her hands.

"What the-?" Alardo said as they were suddenly surrounded by strings and others wrapped around their bodies.

"You didn't even notice the strings I placed all over you." She smiled at the two. "mmm Such a waste."

'_Now she's gone nuts' _Alardo thought as he ignored the woman explained how pathetic they looked and how beautiful she is and just kept on ranting nonsense. He looked at Laxus, "Ready?" He then summoned his sword and engulfed himself with blood red flames, cutting the strings wrapped around his body and stopping the woman from her rants.

"No!" The woman screamed.

Laxus then took this moment to discharge electricity from his body which then traveled to the thread and quickly electrifying the woman. Not strong enough to kill her but enough to stun her. Alardo then leapt forward ready to strike her. The woman closed her eyes, expecting to be pierced painfully by the flaming sword when suddenly Alardo gave her punch to the gut and air was forced out of her lungs as she lost her consciousness.

"For a second there I thought you were going to kill her." Laxus said to Alardo.

Alardo stood back and laid the woman's body on the ground, "Nah. That would've disqualified me." he smiled.

"Aida Kumo." Laxus said suddenly looking down at her.

"You know her? What… she your crazy ex or something?"Alardo snorted.

"Heh. Not personally. Wanted criminal. 40,000 thousand jewels on her head." Laxus said as he crossed his arms.

"Well at any rate we could tie her up or something and then bring her back to the city after the quest."

"No need to tie her up, besides we've got no rope. The electricity I gave her is enough to paralyze her body for a couple of hours." He said evenly. "But just to be sure…..", he placed his finger on the lacrima-comm and tries to contact Carla.

"Hey, she-cat.", Laxus said nonchalantly.

Laxus heard a huff as Carla spoke, **"I would appreciate it better if you would call me by name."**

"You three done there? I have one here that needs pickup. She's a wanted criminal but don't worry, I paralyzed her." He said, ignoring her angry mutters.

"**Well, we are still not done here but… We can go and get some Rune Knights after we defeat our enemy. I think there are a few of them stationed near Clover town."**

"We'll go ahead to the barrier. I'll leave my Lacrima-comm here near her so you can find her. You've got less than two hours before she regains body movement and consciousness."

He heard a deep sigh before she spoke, **"Alright."**

"And yeah, tell the knights her name is Aida Kumo." He told her, ending their communication.

"Well let's go to the barrier, then." Laxus said, looking at Alardo who nodded in return and headed north to the barrier. "You still haven't told me about the tail." He smirked at Alardo.

"Hey, I won the bet!" Alardo exclaimed.

"I'm pretty sure my magic knocked her out cold long before you punched her to the gut." Laxus said.

"No, you just paralyzed her." Alardo said, stopping from his tracks. "I knocked the lights out of her," pointing a thumb to his chest.

Laxus rolled his eyes and admitted defeat. "Yeah yeah, alright." Looking back at Alardo he said, "Besides, I was just testing you."

Alardo let out a sigh, "Well what? Did I pass your test? … because really, I hate tests.", giving Laxus a glare.

"Yeah. You did." Laxus said, returning the glare.

"Good." said as they stayed silent for a few moments.

Then Laxus suddenly grinned at Alardo, "So, how about we grab a beer or two when we get back to the guild?"

Alardo let out a laugh, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"


	5. I'm not your sidekick

_Hey Everyone. Been a bit busy with classes now starting. I just go used to my new schedule. But I did something stupid, I took three art classes! So I had to like, pass three plates every week and one of them was animation. Can you imagine that? And it's traditional animation. It sucks, donkey balls. It's so stressing so It'll probably slow down my writing. And not to mention I also have a calculus class.. sucks right? Anywho This is the next chapter. Reviews or not please read and have fun at it. I only use this as a practice for my English language anyway and a bridge for my imagination and fantasy._

* * *

Wendy was slowly being overwhelmed by the numbers of the gollaians attacking them. Some of the attacks almost got her if not for Carla who was carrying her. Carla was having a hard time lifting Wendy because the gollaians just kept coming. They would maneuver themselves away from an attack when another one would come their way only for them to dodge again. Wendy can't get enough focus to retaliate and most of her concentration was being fed on avoiding incoming attacks as much as possible. She looked at Gajeel to see he was holding out better than them and she can see him land an occasional punch to one or two gollaians and then returning to a defensive position as his skin turns into metal.

The gollaians were a bit easier to handle a few minutes ago until a man wearing a hooded cape that hid most of his body showed up. When the man took out a flute from his cloak and started playing it, the gollaians became more aggressive and fast. And when they had the opportunity to get near the man, a wall of gollaians will form in front of him making all their attacks difficult to get through. Carla remembered their client requested that they should not kill the animals as possibly as they can but if the attacks keep on going then they will have no choice but to do the exact opposite of that. She imagined how Wendy would fare if she were to kill an innocent animal. '_No, I don't want to think about it'_ Carla thought. She needed to have a plan so they can take out the flute man without killing the animals. She can tell that Gajeel is almost at boiling point. If she doesn't think of one now, Gajeel might just kill all of the gollaians.

"Gajeel-san! Carla! I have a plan!" Wendy suddenly shouted which interrupted Carla from her thoughts. She then maneuvered Wendy's body to dodge an incoming attack, about to ask Wendy what the plan was when Gajeel interrupted.

"You _plan_ on telling it anytime now?" Gajeel demanded impatiently.

"Gajeel! Your manners! You shou-" Carla shouted irritably but stopped herself from nagging Gajeel about his temper and impatience and decided to listen Wendy's plan. "Okay, Wendy. What's the plan?" She said encouragingly.

"I need you to take me a bit higher Carla." Wendy said as Carla began lifting her higher than before.

"Hey!", Gajeel shouted, looking at his two teammates but soon shifted his attention to an incoming attack from a gollaian. He then gave it a steel coated punch in the stomach that sent it hurtling. "Where're you two going?" He returned his attention to the two.

"This _is_ the plan!", Wendy shouted looking at Gajeel as he dodged another attack from the gollaians. She just hopes this works. "Now. Please do a spinning Iron Dragon's Club, Gajeel-san!"

"Alright" He said as his arms started to form a steel club and he then spin around hitting gollaians in his path and knocking them away. He also aimed for the man in a cloak but unfortunately, he missed. He was a bit dizzy and decided to take a few moments to collect himself before he gives the hooded man another attack when suddenly he noticed a barrier made of air surrounding them. He saw that outside, the gollaians are desperately trying to enter the barrier. Some are even running away, he guessed that the air barrier was not letting sound escaped which made some of the gollaians wake up from their trance.

"Good job kid!" he gave a smirked at Wendy. He then took out an iron bar given by Levy and ate it. It surprised him at how much magical energy he could get with just one teeny weeny piece of metal. "Heh, I'm all revved up." He smirked.

"The gollaians should be able to resist the sound of the flute now." Wendy smiled and gave a nod at Gajeel. The animals were slowly gaining their senses as she kept the air barrier around them flowing.

"Gihehe.. What now, chump?" Gajeel smirked as the cloaked man hopelessly tried to play his flute which to no avail was not working because of the air slowly being sucked away by the air barrier. "Time to end this!", Gajeel said, taking a deep breath to prepare his signature attack.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!", Gajeel casted his spell and a twister made of iron dusts came out from his mouth towards the man. The force of the spell propelled the cloaked man outside the barrier which also destroyed his flute. Wendy dispelled the air barrier and landed down the ground with Carla near Gajeel. They saw the animals started running away one by one as the effect of the man's flute spell wore off.

"Well, let's get this one tied up. You said there was another one, right?" Gajeel said looking at Carla while he gathered some wild vines that are strong enough for tying.

"Yes, but we should probably hurry." Carla added.

* * *

The magic in the atmosphere was slowly becoming denser the nearer they get towards the direction of the barrier. It wasn't that hard to breathe but the difference of the air as they got nearer was noticeable. It was also getting darker and foggier the more they walked. Alardo guessed the magic in the atmosphere was blocking out a most of the sunlight so it looked liked it was almost sundown. The rustling of the leaves in the trees told them that they were being watched, mainly because there was hardly any wind at all.

"I smell a trap." Alardo said looking at Laxus.

"Let them. Not like it matters to me. Trap or not." Laxus replied indifferently.

"So any ideas on who's inside the barrier?" Alardo said looking at Laxus. "You seem to know the other one we faced awhile ago."

"I can take a guess." Laxus said. Alardo waited for him to elaborate further but he only received a smirk.

"You won't tell me, will you?"

"Then that would ruin the surprise. Besides, it's just a guess, I could be wrong anyway." Laxus smirked at Alardo. In which the latter only sighed in defeat.

"Well…. from your reaction, I'd guess this guy behind the barrier is probably not that strong." Alardo said as they continued walking through the foggy forest.

"We're near." Laxus said, a part of the barrier now becoming visible as they get nearer. Laxus gave a side-glance towards the trees noticing the movement of shadows increasing. It seems they are being expected. As they got in front of the barrier, they waited for a moment when suddenly they felt a tremor on the ground. They watched for a moment and noticed the barrier slowly opening as if it was a giant door.

They got inside and the door of the barrier slowly closed sealing them inside. It was clearer inside barrier as it blocked out the fog outside. It was like being inside a giant dome of glass where they can see the dense fog covering the barrier.

The two started to walk towards the center, noting the movements they saw from their peripherals. As they walked they realized that the movements around them are becoming more frequent. When they got to the center of the forest, they saw a small rocky hill and a cave opening at its foot. The hill was surrounded by trees, shielding it from plain sight whether from above or on the ground. It makes a great place for criminals or fugitives to hide. They noticed that there was no longer any movement around them and they couldn't sense any presence that would tell the duo they were being watched. They waited for a moment, expecting something to happen. When nothing strange occurred, Laxus started to walk near the cave.

"This ought to be fun", Laxus stated casually. "Ready?" he said, looking at Alardo.

Alardo followed Laxus enter the cave and lifted his hand in front of him and snapped his fingers a few times. Alardo cursed when nothing happened until his last snap lit up his hand with crimson flames, lighting up the pathway of the cave. "As ready as I'll ever be." Alardo smiled as they continued their trek to the depths of the cave.

The walk inside the cave was uneventful until they reached an opening to a larger portion of the cave. The area inside was empty but they didn't let their guards down knowing this might as well be a trap. They walked around a little, exploring the large area inside the cave.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we find a lake here." Alardo let out a whistle. "This cave is huge!", Alardo said as he looked up at the ceiling of the cave only to find gollaians hanging unto the rocky spikes and edges of the caves ceiling. "Shit" Alardo hissed.

The gollaians dropped down to the ground and surrounded the two. They were expecting the beasts to attack but nothing came. The two positioned themselves back to back waiting in anticipation of an attack. Alardo and Laxus were a bit surprised to find imps in the mix with their tails similar to Alardo's.

"Guess we found your brethrens." Laxus said jokingly.

"Shut it."Alardo said plainly, trying to ignore Laxus' joke. He looked back at their exit only to find it blocked by a giant spider. "Damn! The spiders in Australia can't compare to this one." Alardo said with shock. "It's fucking huge!"

"Well well well, look who decided to crash the party." A man said from across the cave.

"_Crash_? Feels more like we were invited", Laxus said looking at the man from across the cave. The man was wearing a bandanna over his head and a green robe with a brown jacket and belt.

"That was a warning." The man laughed, "Anyone foolish enough to not know the difference between an invitation and a warning is as good as dead." He added bluntly.

"Well your _warning _was pretty weak, didn't even break a sweat." Alardo laughed

"We'll see about that now, won't we?" The man smirked "ATTACK!" he pointed at a gollaian and an imp.

Just as he had said, the gollaian attacked the two with great speed which surprised the duo. The two men guarded themselves from the attack but the force of it sent them hurtling across the cave with Alardo losing his shades because of the impact. The two gained their composure and stood up from the ground. Then the imp started to attack instantaneously, claws sharpened and went for Alardo while the gollaian went for Laxus. It slashed at him with ferocity and speed it was difficult to dodge when it finally landed a hit at him on his right shoulder. Alardo cringed when he felt pain on his shoulder. "You sure could scratch, huh?" Alardo smirked, not expecting the imp to grace a response. He looked at Laxus and saw he was also fighting the mysteriously empowered gollaian.

"Not so _weak_ now, aren't they?" The man laughed maniacally at the two.

The imp attacked again, attempting to claw at Alardo when he faced his palm towards the imp and fired a red fire ball at it. The flames covered the imp's body and it screeched in agony. Alardo summoned his burning sword, swiftly dashed at the imp and decapitated it. "Well it was surprising… but still weak." He smirked, looking at the man as he used his tail to pick-up his shades on the ground and place it over his eyes. He then saw Laxus executing paralyzing electric attack at the empowered gollaian.

"Got anymore tricks?", Laxus smirked.

"Oh yes, I still have more! How about we multiply things by two?" The man laughed maniacally. It almost reminded Laxus of Bixlow. "Attack, my pets!", He heard the man shout. Then as fast as the man had commanded, two more beasts came at him and Alardo, one gollaian and imp for the two of them. Things aren't that way out of control anyhow, so he doesn't have to worry about anything. But what got him confused was how the hell these animals got more powerful than before. It surprised him that these beasts can keep up with him. His thoughts were interrupted when he received a punch in the face by the gollaian he was facing. For the record, it pissed him off. Animal or not, nobody punches him in the face. Nobody punches Laxus and gets away with it.

"You little fucker…." Laxus growled at the gollaian and suddenly gave it a strong lightning based punch. The force of the attack sent it flying across the cave and hit the wall with a heavy crash. Its body then fell to the ground with a thud and lay unmoving.

"Shit! You killed one!" Alardo exclaimed.

"Who cares?! It's just one!" Laxus shouted back at Alardo "Besides… it pissed me off." He muttered as he dodged a claw attack from the imp monster he was battling.

Before Alardo could answer he saw the gollaian and imp he was battling attack at the same time from both his sides. He was about to blast them with crimson flames from both his hands stretched at each side when he felt a pang of pain from the wound he received from the previous imp he battled. "Shit." He then felt a bit of disorientation when he heard a voice from his head. '_**Barrier! Call upon your barrier. You know how to do it…"**_ It was like time stopped a bit when he heard the voice. He knows it was not the Lacrima-comm but something different. It was a voice of a woman he never heard before but somehow familiar. Time seems to go back to normal now as he tried to remember what the voice in his head said. _Barrier…Quick!_

He positioned his arms as if he was holding a basketball in front of him then casted a spell, "ARCANE PROTECTION!"

Then a translucent light formed around him, blocking the attack of the two beasts. Time went slow again as he heard the woman's voice from before. _**"Now… Push…"**_ The voice trailed off and time went back to normal.

He stretched his arms at his sides aiming it at the beasts, noting the pain from his right shoulder. "ARCANE REPULSION!" He shouted as a white light of magic circle formed under his feet and at both his hands. The magic circle in his hands then contracted, distorting the space around it and then emitted a translucent light that sent both the beasts flying in opposite directions, heavily crashing into the walls of the cave. The light then disappeared from him as he tried to comprehend what had happened.

"Well that's quite a light show you did there, thought you said no killing." Laxus said hiding his surprise as he finished off the imp he was battling with a lightning based kick in the chest carefully avoiding its claws.

"Y-yeah.. quite…", Alardo said still confused about what happened. Laxus noted the confused look Alardo had. He would have to ask about that to him later. His thoughts were interrupted when the man wearing a robe spoke.

"Well that was rather surprising." The man said, not bothering the look of surprise he had on his face but soon recovered, "It seems that I would have to take it up notch."

The duo then prepared their selves for another attack but was surprised when they saw the man cringed in pain. "Well… that was… rather.. unexpected.." He said as he held two fingers on his temple, as if he was trying to ease some kind of headache.

Alardo took note of this and took a guess of how he was controlling the animals. He looked at Laxus and gave him a nod in which he received a nod in return. Alardo summoned his flaming sword and Laxus charged his fists with lightning and the duo attacked the man simultaneously. Just as they were about to land an attack, the man recovered and commanded his army of beasts. "Defend me!" Then a wall of animals suddenly formed between them and the man. Alardo willed his sword to disappear and instead formed crimson flames on his fists just like Laxus. The two punched through the wall of beasts and was surprised to break through it easily. As the wall of animals collapsed they saw the man running away holding his head.

"Let me guess… the man was controlling them with his mind." Alardo said.

"Bingo!" Laxus clicked his fingers and smirked at Alardo. "Though I never knew he could actually strengthen them with his mind. I only saw from the reports that he controls animals with his mind. It was a rather nice surprise." he added.

"Heh, guess that took a toll on him though, some of these guys aren't even attacking us, he's losing his grip." Alardo let out a laugh.

"Alright time to end this shit." Laxus stretched his arms over his head and swung them at his side as if the things they did was just warm up exercise. That's when the giant spider landed in front of them. To be honest, it shocked the hell out of him as he was never really fond of spiders but he hid his astonishment. "One surprises after another, huh?" Laxus said to no one in particular.

"Alardo", Laxus said.

"Already on it", Alardo said as he faced his hand towards the giant spider and summoned a ring of crimson flames around it. He closed his palm and the flames enclosed around the spider, quickly engulfing it and setting it on fire. The spider screeched and screeched until it lay dead from its agony. Alardo never thought of it much but now noticed the pain his flames give to its receiver. He imagined how it would feel if it was a human he burned and not the giant spider. He grimaced at the thought.

"Alright", Laxus said as he disappeared like a flash as his body turned into lightning and quickly went after the running man. Laxus appeared in front of the man, stopping him from his tracks and tried to use his powers to control the remaining animals. When nothing happened, he looked back to see what went wrong only to find all the animals lay unconscious with Alardo standing in the middle of the bodies. "No…No no no no!" He shouted voice almost cracking.

"You didn't kill them, right?" Laxus asked, ignoring the man in hysterics in front of him.

"I held back" Alardo shrugged. Then he heard a voice, this time he was sure it was from the Lacrima-comm.

"**Yo, Tails! Do you copy?"** He heard a gruff voice.

"Call me _Tails_ one more time and I'll chop your head next time we see each other." He said menacingly, placing a finger over his temple.

"**Spoil-sport. What's your situation? Need any back-up?"**

"Nah just wrapping things up", Alardo said as he looked at Laxus. He noted Laxus striking the enemy at the back of the neck, knocking him out cold. "Okay, _now_ we're done."

"**Well we're heading there anyway. Seems like the guys we're dealing with are called the Beastmasters." **Gajeel said.

"Beastmasters, huh? That explains the animals." Alardo said.

"**Yeah, I think you got the leader… The animals seem to be coming to their senses; guards also took his two lackeys away. Everything seems normal except we can still see the barrier from here."**

"Hmm.. We'll look into it." Alardo said ending the conversation. He looked at Laxus waiting for him with his arms crossed, clearly bored.

"Barrier's still up", he motioned to Laxus as he got near him. Looking around the cave in case there was a switch somewhere he overlooked.

"Think I found it", Laxus said as he saw a necklace with a jade pendant. He pulled it out of the man's neck and crushed it. "Well?"

"Yo, the shield still up?" Alardo turned his Lacrima-comm on to contact Gajeel.

"**Gihehe, Nice. Yeah the barrier's gone, almost there too."**

"Copy that. And… Don't ever do that laugh again; it creeps the hell out of me." He ended the conversation, not bothering to listen for Gajeel's response and looked for a tall enough rock around the cave he can sit on. Laxus followed him making sure the enemy is still knocked out and within their sights. They found a rock to sit on and to wait for their team and the guards to arrive. They were pretty silent for a while until Laxus broke the silence.

"So. What was that light show back there? You seem surprised about it yet you casted it perfectly." Laxus asked careful to sound not too intrusive and this time genuinely curious.

Alardo sensed Laxus curiosity and decided to grace him with an explanation. "Well… actually I don't know… A voice said it to me… in my head." He said looking away from Laxus and instead focused his attention to the unconscious man. But the man lying on the ground was far from his thoughts.

"A voice?" Laxus asked waiting for Alardo to explain.

"Yeah, a woman's voice to be exact," he shrugged. Now that he has the time to think about it a little, he was confused about how he felt familiarity from the voice when even once in his life he had never heard of a voice like that.

"You sure that's not the lacrima-comm?" Laxus asked.

"Pretty sure" Alardo replied.

Laxus was about to ask if maybe it was from the poison of the imp's claws when he heard footsteps from the entrance of the cave. He was a bit surprised Alardo wasn't suffering from the poison of the imp. There was definitely _something_ about Alardo. Laxus knows that Alardo too is confused; maybe he can help him out. He and guild can if there is anything they can do about it.

"How's your shoulder?" Laxus asked.

"Yeah… it's… good?" Alardo trailed off as he touched his shoulder and felt the wound much smaller than before. "It's smaller." He said though it sounded like much more of a question.

"You know… An imp's claws contain poison. And _you_ took it like it was nothing. And it's already healing well." Laxus said knowingly. "That's the kind of man-power our guild needs." He added.

"No shit!?" Alardo exclaimed.

"Yeah, I already said you can join the-"

"No, I meant the poison? There was poison?" Alardo asked, standing up.

"Pretty much." Laxus shrugged. "Look you healed fairly well so there's nothing to worry about."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Most of their victims die within a few hours of convulsion. And as far as I can see, you are nowhere near convulsing. You aren't even shaking." Laxus reassured him. "So nothing to worry about."

"Maybe that's where the voice came from. I must be hallucinating." Alardo said, much more to himself than to Laxus.

"Could be… that still doesn't explain the spell you casted." Laxus said standing up. "You can think more about it later, the guys are heading here. You can ask more questions back at the guild."

"Yeah. Thanks…. you know" Alardo said at Laxus.

"Yeah.. no problem. We make a great duo anyway." Laxus smirked. "And I could use a sidekick" Laxus said jokingly.

"Heh, I'll give you _sidekick_. And it will probably hurt" Alardo laughed.

A shout from the opening interrupted their laughter. "Hey, you two!", Carla shouted as they got near Laxus and Alardo with guards in the back. The three members stopped in front of the two, watching as the guards went to apprehend the leader of the Beastmasters. A guard went in front of the team and thanked them for their assistance. They explained how they have been looking for the rogue mages but gave up since they quieted down until today. The guard also said their rewards would be given when they return to Clover town.

The journey back to town was quick and they soon found themselves at the guard house where they detained the rogue mages temporarily. "Is this gonna keep them locked up?" Alardo asked.

"Well for the time being, this detention center cancels out magic of the inmates plus they're gonna send a prison carriage to take them to the main prison area where criminal mages gets taken." Laxus said as he saw a guard coming at them with three pouches.

"Well here's your reward. Thank you for the assistance." A guard interrupted as he gave them three large pouches which contain two 40,000 jewels and the other one 50,000 jewels.

"Here you take the 50,000 and the 40,000. You deserve this." Laxus looked at Alardo.

"You sure? What about you? And the other two?" Alardo asked, hesitantly taking the two pouches.

"Nah. They've got that one, besides the client for this quest will reward them anyway." Laxus said as they head outside of the guard house. "As for me… don't sweat it. I've got tons of it anyways."

"Well if you're sure" Alardo said when realization hits him. "What do you mean tons?"

"Well… an S-class mage has its perks" Laxus shrugged.

"Used to be S-class once…" Gajeel said but trailed off, quickly avoiding the path of the idea.

"Yeah… forgot to mention, Alardo's joining the guild", Laxus said to the team.

"Wow congratulations, umm Alardo-san" Wendy said happily.

"Same for me", Carla added.

"Hah! Now we got another strong one!" Gajeel cheered.

"Alright alright settle down." Laxus said. "We're still not done with the quest yet." He added.

"He's right, we can always celebrate in the guild with everyone. Let's go find our client." Carla said as they headed for the house of the mayor of Clover town.

Laxus slowed down to walk near Alardo as the three in front were talking, "I guess I owe you a beer then?" Laxus whispered at Alardo.

"Damn right, you do." Alardo smirked, "And for the record, I'm no sidekick." He added which made Laxus smirked.

"We'll see." Laxus said in a sing-along voice.


End file.
